Sunday, January 27, 2013

New Mexico and Colorado Living History Events 2013

2013
New Mexico and Colorado
History Events

February 16 Fort Stanton Living History, Ft. Stanton, NM Contact: Larry Pope
February 16 Fort Stanton:  Corset Making Seminar:  See Previous Post
February 22 -24 Battles for Socorro Civil War Reenactment Socorro, NM
____________________________________________________
March 16 Fort Stanton Living History Contact: Larry Pope
March 16  Frontier Skills Day: Bent's Old Fort NPS
                        Adults are invited to take on various roles at the fort for a day. Be a hunter, blacksmith, trader, carpenter, laborer, or domestic. Nineteenth work techniques accurate to the fort's history will be taught and experienced as part of their character role's regular work routine of the 1840s. Visitors are invited to observe the participants as they practice their skills. Space is limited and a fee of $20 and pre-registration is required. Call (719) 383-5026 for more information. For registration form go to: http://www.nps.gov/beol/planyourvisit/upload/frontier-skills-application1.pdf
____________________________________________________
April 20 Fort Stanton Living History Contact: Larry Pope
____________________________________________________
May 4-5   Battelfield New Mexico: Civil War at Rancho de las Golindrinas
May 5- Sept. 2  Trails and Rails Trips, Bent's Old Fort NPS
May 18 Fort Stanton Living History Contact: Larry Pope
May 24 -26 Fort Garland Memorial Day,  Fort Garland, CO
____________________________________________________
June 8   Living History Encampment Public Visitation'  Bent's Old Fort NPS
June 28-29 New Mexico Territorial Days, Chama, NM
____________________________________________________
July 6 Frontier Fourth of July Celebration,  Bent's Old Fort NPS La Junta, CO
____________________________________________________
Sept. 23-26  National Fur Trade Symposium,   Bent's Old Fort NPS La Junta, CO
____________________________________________________
October 12 Kid's Quarters  Bent's Old Fort NPS La Junta, CO
____________________________________________________
Dec. 6-8 Holiday Celebration, Bent's Old Fort NPS La Junta, CO
____________________________________________________
 
If you have a living history event planned you would like noted on the blog, please contact the blog with the details.
 
   

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Corset Making Seminar

The Seminar has had be Canceled.

Victoria Davis is hosting a Corset-Making Seminar at Ft. Stanton on Saturday, Feb. 16. She will bring examples of corset styles from 1855 to 1910. Also provided will be patterns for an 1855-1865 corset, 1880s corset, and a 1909 corset that you can copy.

The focus of the seminar will be to cut out and properly fit a muslin model for your corset, supplies and techniques needed to build a good-fitting corset.

A good-fitting corset provides the proper foundation to support your outer garments and is a "Must" for the serious living history presenter (the only exception would be someone portraying either a Mexican ( remember, this was part of Mexico until 1855) or a subsistance farmer.

Supplies for this seminar are simple: wax paper or parchment to copy your chosen corset, a yard of scrap cotton fabric or muslin, thread, and a portable sewing machine, if you have one to bring. There is no fee to attend this seminar. We will begin at 10:00 a.m.

If you are coming from out of town, the old nurses' quarters are available for us to stay in. Just bring your bedding (and cot). There are in-door plumbing facilities!!

Please RSVP to victoriadavis88310@yahoo.com so we can plan accordingly
 
Ft. Stanton is located in Ft. Stanton, NM  http://fortstanton.org/  This is the same site at which the event in the previous post was held.



Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Fort Stanton, NM After Action Report

This after action report was submitted by Jo Pope of the Ft. Stanton
Garrison of New Mexico.  Thanks for sharing your event with us.



*********************************************************Members Present:
23 members attended.

Event Overview:

... It is COOOOOOOLD out there. But, the Garrison is dedicated to seeing living history take place at Fort Stanton throughout the winter. Garrison members began showing up in the afternoon on Friday to set up camp and prepare for the event. With work completed quickly, we retired to the warmth of the Nurse’s Quarters for the evening and engaged ourselves in entertaining conversation before heading to bed.

Saturday dawned a crisp 22 degrees, but as usual, Ken had the fire going and coffee brewing by sun up. One by one, each member showed up to dance around the fire cooking various parts of their bodies by the flames. It would be a beautiful warm day before long, so we set to the daily chores right away. Breakfast was cooked and consumed, the dishes cleaned and camp was filled with various bits of historical equipage that visitors would soon gaze upon. The flag was raised by 10:00 and a little bit of drill was enjoyed before a short break. We set up the saber course for Matt as he saddled up Belle and then watched with delight as the pair gleefully destroyed potato after potato (Matt can’t ride without smiling……….. add a saber, and he’s in Heaven). Following mounted drill, rations were issued to the group and consumed in short order.

The afternoon began with a little class time. The subject of said class was ‘The packing of knapsacks and rolling of bedrolls’. Larry Pope displayed the experience of many a campaign explaining that neatness is the key to success as each item is packed or rolled in place. The demonstration was well received and the group broke with the opinion that a bed roll is preferable to the ungainly knapsack. The final planned activity was Artillery drill conducted by Larry Auld who was working through the remnants of the flu. Members were rotated through the various positions on the gun as the firing procedure (including misfires) was repeated over and over. This was a very good drill as both rookie and experienced cannoneer alike learned something. The day was closed with evening flag ceremony. Theresa cooked a fine stew for dinner and fed the group to capacity. After filling our bellies, we built a grand fire and enjoyed each other’s company through the night.

Sunday opened much like Saturday, cold and clear with a warm fire and hot coffee. The flag was again raised by 10:00, but no further scheduled activities took place. Several living historians remained on site until about 2:00 receiving a number of visitors (there were about 60 for the weekend). Everything was cleaned and cleared out by about 3:30.

Conclusion

This weekend was a very good event. We had another good turnout of living historians and a large number of visitors for the dead of winter. Our members are gaining great experience and we continue to bring a large group each month to the fort. We will continue to improve ourselves to provide a professional experience for visitors to Fort Stanton. Next month’s event will be another ‘Ladies’ Special’ as Victoria Davis will again host a seminar. The topic will be ‘Corset Construction’. Attending ladies will fit, cut out and construct a corset for themselves. Details on this event will follow later. Spring will soon be upon us and several off site living history events will take place. These off site events will be a wonderful opportunity for our members to expand their experiences by participating in living history events at other historic sites. Contact Larry Pope for details on these off site events.

A list of the next four month’s activities is as follows:

February 16 Fort Stanton Living History
February 22 -24 Battles for Socorro Civil War Reenactment Socorro, NM
March 16 Fort Stanton Living History
March 22 - 23 West Texas Heritage Day Fort McKavett, TX
April 20 Fort Stanton Living History
May 3 -4 Fort Chadbourne Days Fort Chadbourne, TX
May 18 Fort Stanton Living History
May 24 -26 Fort Garland Memorial Day Fort Garland, CO

Sunday, January 20, 2013

The Civil War Close to Home

This is an excellent film produced by El Rancho de los Golindrinas museum near Sante Fe. There is a Civil War Reenactment there in May. Clicking on the link New Mexico Remembers will let you view if full screen.  Enjoy!


New Mexico Remembers from New Mexico Historical Films on Vimeo.

Monday, January 14, 2013

New Weekly Quilt History Block for the Civil War

Barbara Brachman has a new Block of the Month for a Civil War quilt based on the Diary of Sarah Morgan Dawson, a young girl in Louisiana during the War.  If you have not ever looked at this site, you don't want to miss it!  Each quilt square is accompanied by a well researched look into the times through the eyes of an individual back then.  The information on the actual fabrics and appropriate reproduction ones will help you find fabrics for your next dress.  Visit this site each Saturday to see what is new...
http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2013_01_01_archive.html


If you'd like to read the actual diary of Sarah Morgan Dawson which was published in 1913 as "A Confederate Girl's Diary", it is located here:
http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/dawson/dawson.html

Friday, January 11, 2013

Texas Historical Events for Spring 2013

Spring Events

Find these events on the Calendar by clicking the tab above.

January 25-27  Texas Living History Assn. Conference
Huntsville, TX    
Contact:  Whit.Edwards@thc.state.tx.us

February 15-16 “Crossed Roads on the Frontier” Colonial Trade Faire and Drill
Washington on the Brazos?

Contact: Steven Draper at 254-289-1814 or scdraper@aol.com.
 

March 2  Ft. Clark Days 
Ft. Clark Springs (Brackettville)
Contact: 830- 563-2495




March 8-12 Frontier Women Living History Conference
Ft. Concho, San Angelo 
Contact:  FortGriffinWife@aol.com

March 22-23 West Texas Heritage Days,  Education Day Fri.
 Ft. McKavett SHS near Menard, TX
Contact:  cobbfarm@airmail.net

April 12-13 Fort Richardson Days,
 Ft. Richardson SP near Jacksboro,
Contact:  Glen Barnet (940) 567-3506

April 27, Copper Breaks State Park Expedition Days
Copper Breaks State Park
Contact:   (940) 839-4331

May 3-4 Ft. Chadbourne Days
 Ft. Chadbourne near Bronte, TX 
Contact:  325.743.2555

May 17-18 Ft. Lancaster Living History Event
Ft. Lancaster SHS near Sheffield, TX
Contact:  ft-lancaster@thc.state.tx.us

If you are aware of any other Living History events in Texas or New Mexico please email them to frontierlady@suddenlink.net


Thursday, January 10, 2013

What Everyone Ought to Know About Wearing a Victorian Corset

What Everyone Ought to Know About Wearing a Victorian Corset

by Jennifer Rosbrugh on July 7, 2011
Check out this well written and interesting article sent to me by Bev.  Click on the link above.

Friday, January 4, 2013

Ft. Chadbourne's event, May 3rd and 4th.

I received this message concerning Ft. Chadbourne's event, May 3rd and 4th.  Please continue to email your dates so I can enter them on the FWLHA calendar.
=========================================================================
Happy New Year…
Before you know it, it will again be time for the Fort Chadbourne Living History Event. This year the event falls on Friday, May 3rd, and Saturday, May 4th.

As you know, we have been collecting emails, so that we could begin to use those for more efficiency with postage, and quicker and easier responses from those who have furnished them to us.

The form attached to this email, is what you normally fill out each year, or you may visit our brand new website www.fortchadbourne.org where you may download the forms at any time from there.

Please click on the “Events” tab, and go to the Living History Event section. You will find the forms located towards the bottom of the page for re-enactors.

If you haven’t visited our new website, please do. It’s really great, and we’ve had an awesome response from everyone that has taken a look at it.

As for the form, please fill it out and either scan it and attach to an email for return, or drop it in snail mail to us. We really do prefer you fill the form out completely rather than just email us you are coming. It truly helps us keep track of your request and responses more diligently.

We are aware this is early, and you have until April 1, 2013 to let us know, BUT we thought we would try and get the emails up and working, and snail mail those that still don’t embrace email. If you have any questions, please let us know.

Have a great new 2013, and thanks for all you do to make Fort Chadbourne events so great! We look forward to seeing you in May.

Ann Pate
Fort Chadbourne Foundation
651 Fort Chadbourne Road
Bronte, TX 76933
325-743-2555